Good to see a full recovery (some scar though!) and use of a helmet. I am going to get one this week end and start re-using my impact vest. Hate to be negative but I would never even THINK about kiting in water that shallow. A helmet wont help back or limb injury, which would almost be a guarantee with any significant impact in water that shallow!

Thanks for your opinions
Some things I learnt about my self
When you think your going to die you instantly believe in god.
I am not bullet proof .
I know what my limitation is now.
I feel comfortable riding in shallow sandy bottom water with the wind xshore.
I use an impact vest when I try new tricks or when ever I feel that I should put one on if the wind is over 25kts I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t ride unless it is a solid wind.(no gusts)
I protect my head now.
my son jack in that photo is 5years old, I have another son Will who is 1 and I allso have 1 in my wifes oven.
I am truley blessed be be able to ride ,when it is time my sons will ride to.
he loves to help shape boards and thinks that epoxy and carbon holds the world together.
Thanks Rick for caring about safety and being a driving force with in the kiteboarding community.
I felt really sorry for my self when this first happened and you helped pull me out of that slump
aj
thats it story finnished.

Last edited by headwound on Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

I am very happy that you pulled yourself through the injury, rehab and recovery. Challenges like that prove the substance of a person.

Thanks for being the first person to share serious kiteboarding injury photos with the intent of trying to help others to learn from your hard experience. Your story has had a tremendous quantity of hits for a safety post, over 18,000 hits!

I have to believe you have made a difference in helmet use out there. That is really taking the bull by the horns and turning a bad situation to something that can do some good.

You have my thanks and that of the guys that may possibly be spared some injury by wearing a lid as a result of your story.

Many thanks to the injured rider for allowing photographic publication of his injuries and description of his accident. Although there is some downside to these types of threads, the benefits far outweigh the potential negatives.

I operate a kitesurfing school in Los Angeles and Ventura counties of CA. Although most riders in the area don't wear helments, I always wear one and constantly stress their importance to our students. I NEVER allow anyone to use one of my boards if they don't wear a helmet.

All the points made on this thread encouraging their use are excellent and I'd like to add a couple more.:

1. The vast majority of kitesurfing fatalities are due to head injuries.

2. Besides keeping your brains in your head after a severe impact, there is a SECOND, equally important reason to wear a helmet. Specifically, without a helmet even MINOR impacts may distract or daze you momentarily. This could cause you to move your kite to some REALLY BAD part of the window which then leads to a serious accident.

3. And for those who don't mind risking their own lives and health in order to supposedly look cooler, you should bear in mind that any accident could easily involve OTHER people. ALL kiters have a responsibility to keep their activities as safe as possible for the benefit of other beach users; including other kiters. Furthermore, your needlessly messy accident (lets say blood all over the place) is more likely to get your local spot shut down for EVERYONE that kites there.

4. Less important but still worth noting is that there are some helmet features which are somewhat more desireable.

Specifically, a helmet with more ear and neck protection is better than one sitting on the top of your head. One of the most important benefits of a helmet is that it can protect you from your board. If you've fallen, especially in surf, your trusty board may try to get even for all the times you were mean to it and getting wapped by the edge of your board on the side of your head or back of your neck can produce serious problems which wouldn't happen with the right helmet.

Also, it's possible that a high visibility color such as yellow might make your day in the event your buddies or the Coast Guard are looking for you cause you got blown away when the wind changed.

Rich you spilled plenty of blood and made a scene when you got dragged up that pole right?
You can still rattle your brain and bleed like a pig no matter how much protection you wear.
All you helmet freaks should lay off. If I don't want to wear protection I'm only hurting myself and the negative publicity it creates for the sport is no worse than people posting pictures of injurys for the whole world to see.
besides, it always seems to be the helmet/safety kooks that are dragging themselfs over the rocks anyway.
Just my two cents.

Wow! Thanks for sharing the pictures and the seriously detailed sit-rep. I never agreed with helmets personally, but this makes me seriously consider getting one for rock-beach launches. I've taken that same drag on sand and laughed it off, now i think its not so funny. Really makes you consider the variables, even in predictable conditions. Good to see he will kite another day!

surfzupman wrote:Wow! Thanks for sharing the pictures and the seriously detailed sit-rep. I never agreed with helmets personally, but this makes me seriously consider getting one for rock-beach launches. I've taken that same drag on sand and laughed it off, now i think its not so funny. Really makes you consider the variables, even in predictable conditions. Good to see he will kite another day!

Yes, it is outstanding AJ survived, recovered and is going stronger than ever in kiteboarding. He just had a new child too!

How many active bike riders used to feel the same way about helmets? Times and attitudes change. Some riders have been seriously messed up in impacts against sand and even water. Helmets don't provide a guarantee of avoiding injury or even survival in all impacts. Still, if you have one on, it could just make an important difference. Otherwise the only impact and wearing surface you have to see you through the emergency is skin, bone and perhaps hair gel.